Arthur Guérin-Boëri holds five world titles and eight world records in dynamic apnea. His last pool record is 300 meters, or 12 times a 25-meter pool. In 2021, he set himself a new challenge and broke the world record in dynamic apnea under the ice.
Snorkeling under the ice
In 2021, Arthur Guérin-Boëri added a new record to his credit already impressive. In Finland, he dived under 50 centimeters of ice in 2 degree water. He managed to walk 120 meters swimming in apneaa first in this discipline.
This desire to swim in cold water in apnea came to him a few years ago, when he was already interested in the virtues of cold water. “It’s a pretty miraculous thing for a lot of things: the cardiovascular and immune system, chronic pain and weight loss”he explains, “I said to myself: why not link my interest in freediving with my interest in cold water?”. Above all, the champion had achieved all his objectives in the pool, and wanted renewing oneself by taking on new challenges.
The cold is a very difficult thing to manage mentally. – Arthur Guerin-Boeri
To succeed in his feat, Arthur Guérin-Boëri prepared a lot, especially for learn to acclimate to the cold. “The cold is a very difficult thing to manage mentally, but also physiologically. We can’t do it overnight.”, he acknowledges. For it, he trained every winter, and in particular in Paris, the city where he lived until now. With the Polar Bear winter swimming group, he bathed in the Canal de l’Ourcq. “It can go down to 2 or 3 degrees, it can even freeze”.
Today, Arthur Guérin-Boëri wants to continue to challenge himself. He’s getting ready to go a world tour of the oceans in apnea to direct a documentary series that he is writing. He would also like improve in deep apnea to experience sensations that he does not know in the pools.